Forest Practices

MPPA has advocated for harvesting regulations and practices that ensure the long-term sustainability and health of the forest without arbitrarily restricting harvesting options available to landowners.

• During the 1990s MPPA led the successful efforts to oppose a statewide ban on clearcutting, but instead ensure that Maine’s forests are harvested sustainably using best management practices.
• More recently MPPA has been a leader in advocating that Maine’s forest resource be used wisely, given increasing demands for wood as an energy source. MPPA served on the Governor’s Wood to Energy Task Force, and has worked to ensure that policy decisions encouraging the use of wood as a fuel do not adversely affect the availability and cost of pulpwood.
• MPPA supports measures to increase the amount of forest that is managed under a third party certification program. MPPA has worked with the Maine Forest Service on policy committees formed to encourage participation in these programs.
• MPPA is serving on the Great Maine Forestry Initiative Stakeholder Group, which is seeking funding from the federal government to purchase conservation easements and take other measures that will ensure that large tracts of forest land remain as working forests, providing wood to our mills and jobs for Maine workers.